In to the Fire
by animeditto
Summary: Artemis grieves Wally's death, refusing to believe he is dead. Clues start coming up that lead her to the conclusion that Wally is most defiantly not dead. With help form Nightwing, the only other person that thinks he's not dead they will find him and bring him back. fix-fic
1. Chapter 1

I

It has been one month since the earth was saved by the young heroes.

Artemis had taken it hard. She still couldn't believe Wally was gone, 'ceased' as they said it. He had just gone. No body. No evidence. No more feeling. She had gone numb. She refused to give up on him. He couldn't be gone. If he was, she needed proof. Black Canary was making her visit her twice a week, sometimes more depending on the week, rougher weeks seemed to happen more often than not. Dinah had said it was common for those that lose someone to be in denial when there was no body found. She gave many examples of soldiers that went missing in action, therefore presumed dead.

Dinah was such a caring woman. She had offered for Artemis to move into the mansion with her and Oliver. Artemis decline, their apartment was just fine. She would come home from her part time job or a mission, dump her bags by the front and collapsed on the bed. She'd cradle his pillow, taking in his scent. Then their dog Nelson would come snuggle up to her. The dog was the only one she allowed to see her tears after the funeral. She cried herself to sleep every night. She had locked away all her emotion, deep down in the hole in her heart. She'd never be able to get over the loss of Wally.

Becoming Tigress and entering the world of being a hero again was an escape from everything. To get away from the apartment that reminded her of Wally. Everywhere she went she could see Wally. It hurt being partners Bart. He would wear the Kid Flash costume opposed to the Impulse costume. She respected it though. Part of the reason why he was so eager was to commemorate Wally, in his memory. But that was the problem. She couldn't remember how many times she went to call him Wally. She caught herself each time though.

Artemis kept to herself for the most part. The only people she really let in were family members and original Team members. Jade would visit or invite (force) Artemis to come out. She often brought Lain, one of few that made Artemis feel something. Her little niece would smile up at her with admiration. Artemis always felt a twang of jealousy. She sister's husband was more reckless than Wally but he waited at home, safe and alive. Lain's soft red hair and grey eyes were always how she pictured her and Wally's child. So she would take in this time and enjoy the time to the best she could, she'd pretend that life was alright, that life was once again happy.

Megan and Zatanna tried so hard to comfort Artemis. They truly went out of their ways to make things comfortable whenever she was around. The only problem was that the girls tried too hard. Their hearts were in the right places but it was too overwhelming, too suffocating. She wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

Nightwing, or Richard Grayson if you were close enough to know, was the closest person to her right now. Even though he is on leave he continues retinue rounds of Gotham. He and her were the only ones that believed Wally wasn't gone. Whenever she found possible proof of Wally's existence she'd go to him for help on figuring it out. The first time she went to the team, they dismissed her by taking the object and giving her unbelievable 'we'll look in to it's. Together they have exhausted many leads on the whereabouts of Wally. Only a few stood strong.

She kept herself as busy as possible. She wanted as little time with her thoughts as possible. She worked as a store clerk for a book shop during the day, nights there was usually a mission, she made it a point to be a part of as many as possible. During the rest of the time she was either at home with Nelson, with friends or (and most commonly) searching for Wally. She never told anyone where she went when she disappeared. It was during night most of the time, sleep was something she didn't value as important anymore. All Artemis could picture was the Team and League's look if they found out that this was what she was doing. Nobody respected the idea of Wally's possible life other than Dick, they all though it was despite ploys to ignore the truth.

Every time she held a bow it got worst. The shaking never seemed to stop. Her hands wouldn't stay still. She hid it well though. She has become accustomed to it by now like a person in need of glasses but refuses to give in. She knew the moment anyone saw, Team or villains that they'd know how true broke and fragile she was. They'd see through her act and look down upon her, they wouldn't see her as equal but selfish. She would be pulled off the team, likely permanently. She wouldn't know what to do with herself. She would be treated so differently, even now she was. They were all waiting for her fuse to reach the bottom. Artemis hated it, she knew it would eventually happen but she wouldn't believe it.

Most of all she hated herself. Right after his death she seriously considered suicide, she hated that it came to that. She always thought she was stronger. Then she'd remind herself, if she was stronger she would have found a way to save him and the world. She hated herself for needing him as much as she did. She hated how she pushed away everyone that cared about her. She hated how selfish she is, how in denial she is. She hated how she jeopardizes mission because of her shaking. She hates how she's a hollow shell of who she was. She hates how pathetic she is. She hates how she could let one person, one boy, one speedster, break down every wall she's ever formed since her mother took the blame and was sent to jail. She hates how she fell in love with the one person that can cause her this much pain. She hates how she only tells parts of the truth. She hates how dependent she was on him. She hates Wally West for leave her alone her alone, for all this pain, destruction and impending self-destruction he left her to deal with. And she hates herself for hating him when all he did was save the world, when all he did was be himself.


	2. Chapter 2

II

Tigress readied her bow, aiming a common arrow at the enemy's hand, preparing to disarm him so that Kid Flash can move in. Her hands shook, _not again,_ she thought glad that M'gann had the night off. All she could hear was the clutter of the arrow and the bow frame. She pushed the sound out of mind and concentrated on her target. _Since when had the hand been such a small target? I should be able to hit the mark, but my aim isn't what it used to be._

She lined her vision up with the arrow. A clear shot besides the tremble that would throw it off by an inch in anyway direction, to be safe she aimed in the center in the hand, just in case her aim is thrown off. She released the arrow and watched as it sailed through the air. It hit roughly an inch and a half away from the center. _That's no good,_ but either way he dropped his gun. He was the last guy they had to take out before moving in to receive the information that had been stole a week prior.

Before the gun could even hit the ground Kid Flash had already gotten him with a right hook. Just like that he fell to the ground trying to scramble away on all fours. Tigress jumped down form her hiding place in the rafters as KF landed a few more punches, knocking him out.

"Let's get in, quietly; you'll keep watch while I upload the info onto the USB and destroy the network." Tigress instructed KF as she took off towards the entrance.

From here everything was relatively silent; they had fallen into the regular routine, Artemis taking lead until they meet their objective with Bart following closely behind. Soon they reached the control room. With a quick twist of the wrist she opened the door grasping the middle section of the bow, ready to whack anyone upside the head.

They crept in the room, once they cleared it Tigress jumped over the back of the chair and onto the seat. She pulled the flash drive out of one of her harnesses and hastily plugged it into the computer monitor. Within seconds the necessary files plus a few extra were being uploaded to the USB. She swapped the flash drive with another that Robin had given. She popped in the drive which uploaded a kill virus that would whip all the systems of everything leaving the computers an empty shell.

She stood up and made her way over to the door. KF and Tigress ventured out of the building then on to the Zeta- tubes heading back to the Watchtower.

Even now the tension still remained. Whenever she walked into the room everyone would start nitpicking their words. She clenched the USB drive in one hand and her bow in the other. "Kaldur," she called as she approached, making sure she had his attention. She held out her clenched fist.

"Artemis, how was the mission?" He asked as come and collective as ever as he took the flash drive from her and plugged it into the computer. He pulled up the files scanning through them quickly before exiting them once concluding they were the correct files.

"Fairly routine nothing out of the ordinary, normally baddies, nothing overly difficult, seemed too easy if anything. I wouldn't be surprised if that was just a subdivision on the real base, Bane usually has more muscle bond guys guarding things of concern. I would be willing to bet they have multiple copies." She said formally. His tone was rather infectious, always causing Artemis to match her tone with his.

"Alright, thank you Delta squad, you are dismissed, I shall go and report this to Batman." Kaldur gave them a brief nod before heading out to find the Bat.

"Good job Bart, I know you've been putting in a lot of hours because of me and I appreciate. If you don't want to go on a mission for whatever reason I can find someone else to go with or team up with, Garfield is always looking for an excuse to get out of homework or Batgirl, we go-"

"Artemis, you know I would never abandon you, I enjoy being out in the field every day." He offered her a small smile.

She nodded while examining his face. The bags under his eyes were deep and dark, the flamboyant auburn hair that she had yet to get used to in the costume had long since lost its bounce, his complexion was slightly pale. She knew the signs, if it weren't for makeup and her hair being in a pony she would look the same, probably worse.

She looked at him with a cross expression of concern and seriousness. "Take a few days off. You need it, you look exhausted. It's the weekend, sleep in and play video games, you'll give a better performance." She was pushing him away on one level. She needed sometime, maybe request a solo mission or to routines. On another she felt greedy, always think of herself before now. She had only just noticed how drained the young speedster was.

His eyebrows furrowed, "What if you need me?"

"I won't, I promise, besides if something does happen you'll be the first one I call, you'll be there in a flash." She winked and began removing external components of her costume. _Wally most have worn off on me a little too much. _She put them in her back pack pulling out civilian clothed to through on other top of the spandex like material.

After tossing on the clothing she entered the Zeta tube sending her back home, or rather the apartment, it wasn't much of a home since Wally… The pantry was still fully stocked with his goodies, even though she didn't understand how he enjoyed the gross little processed snacks. The only thing that kept the hope of calling in a home one day was the thought that Wally may return, well that and Nelson of course, but she doubted she would ever find a place she would feel that she belonged to.


	3. Chapter 3

III

Saturday mornings… get up, shower, and go on a run with Nelson. That's the way it was now. She would wake up at 5:30 A.M. and would be out the door at quarter after. They'd run for a few block before stopping at a small coffee shop then eat outside then take the long route home and be back by 7 to start the working day.

She had requested to be given the early shifts so it wouldn't interfere with the missions and what, the owner and manager was a sweet elderly woman that ran it with her family, she had hired Artemis when her granddaughter moved away to pursue her dream of being an actress.

Artemis got home and changed into dark wash skinny jeans and white tank top, she had retired the leather jacket for the summer months. She would grab her purse and gently place a compactable crossbow into it then swing it over her shoulder. She ventured to the front door where she turned around quickly. "Nelson, baby."

The white dog came hustling towards the door. Artemis knelt down and embraced the white dog, she did every time she left him, before she could realize the pup had become her only family left that she could physically touch and embrace. She never left within doing so; she regrets not doing it to Wally too. She let go of the dog, letting her hand trail up to his head and soon to her side. With that she was out the door heading to _Shelves._

Work was the same as normal, joking with Mrs. Baits, the owner, to occasional kicking off of thieves and a couple of paper cuts. She made her way to the nearest Zeta, the previous night's mission had given her an idea.

Artemis greeted the doorman before stepping into the first set of double doors. She stepped to an intercom and typed in 201 (AN: you see what I did there ;)). The speaker made a buzzing noise before an even more annoying humming came from the second set of doors. She pulled them open, venturing to the stairs, not bothering with the elevator for one floor. She jogged down the hall to the first apartment. Just as she went to knock the door swung open.

He gestured her in before shutting the door behind them. "I thought of something we haven't checked." She announced with an ounce of pride.

Dick led them to the spare bedroom that was converted into his 'nest' as they joked. "And what would that be?" He asked quizzically, his pride in being a know-it-all detective being at stake.

"Climate, the air pressure, wind, temperature before, during and after… uhm… whatever it is that happened to Wally happened." She purposed. To anyone else it would have seemed like she was a delusional girlfriend unwilling to believe what happened, she was completely aware, she pretty much was minus the delusional part.

Dick pondered for a moment. "We also should get seasonal averages." He plopped down on the chair office chair and spun around to face monitor. His figures swept across the keys at a speed that rivaled the missing speedster's.

Artemis leaned over the back of the chair, watching the screen load and swimming through firewalls. A few minutes later they had found the information they were searching. Dick had opened it on two screens so they could go through the data sooner.

"Here it says the temperature dropped to negative twenty degrees Celsius on the outer most edge of the arctic, but this one, closer but still a ways off from the location on the Magnetic Field Disruptors, it was negative ten Celsius. Come to think of it wasn't overly cold by the MFD. No one way wearing they're jackets." The first boy wonder explained.

She nodded at his findings, "This one says that the wind was acting wired as well. It just straight up stopped an hour before the MFD was activate for a good fifty minutes, the wind started to pick up about ten minutes before. There were a few different locations that recorded the wind, in each it's heading towards the center." She shared her discoveries.

"The calm before the storm." He said quietly. They both went silent for a few moments. "We can try energy readings up at the pole; see if we can pick up anything. Once we now _how_ it happened we should be able up there."

"Wouldn't Jaime's scarab be able to pick up on it if that were the case? It is Reach tech."

"The Reach planted the scarab here, like, 3000 some odd years ago. They're technology has probably evolved past that."

"But he was under the control for a while wouldn't they have updated it to make him a better pawn?"

"They had the opportunity, yes, but if it had of been updated it would have already known about the MFD and it wouldn't have missed the one in the arctic or it may have been too old to be compatible."

"Yeah that's true; the Green Lantern Crop has fought them more recently they could know."

The blue eyed teen nodded. "We would need to do more research and come up with a way to indirectly ask, or find another means to get the information."

She smirked a little, "So what's the next step?"

"Next weekend, meet me here with your gear, we'll stakeout at the pole and gather information, decide from there."

"Have they finished construction on the Zeta-tube up there yet?"

"Mostly, the building, shack thing they have up they is finished as well as the physical tube. I overheard Bats saying it would be connected on Wednesday. We should be fine, I'll hack the system so the league doesn't know where we're going, they'd get all suspicious and shut us done without listening to reason." He informed her.

She sighed, probably more dramatic then needed. "It's for the best, I hate sneaking around like this but it's the only way. I'm pretty sure they'd lock me away in an insane asylum, wouldn't think twice. You'd get away with a slap on the wrist and more security that would last 0.3 seconds before you hacked and repurposed them. They'd be cool with it 'cause you got the Bats."

He chuckled, "Right after he kicked my ass for disobeying."

Artemis turned to leave and grabbed her bag, "Let don't forget to visit me once I'm in foam padded rooms! I really would go mental."

AN: i've posted this on my tumblr, feel free to follow.


End file.
